Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR) is an initiative that mobilizes college and university campus resources (within and without the institution’s physical borders) to provide housing and other forms of assistance to refugees seeking resettlement in the institution’s local area. In partnership with local resettlement agencies, universities and colleges can make a big difference in refugee resettlement in terms of numbers of refugees resettled, quality of resettlement and the shaping of public discourse around refugees and immigrants. The ECAR PPSE minor formalizes the educational components of the initiative and engages students in disciplinary, interdisciplinary and place-based experiences that facilitate: 1) learning about forced displacement and (im)migration 2) centralizing the voices, agency and perspectives of (im)migrants and forcibly displaced individuals 3) participation in the place-based educational processes of resettlement and community building 4) emphasis on the nature and significance of organizing and advocacy. In short, the ECAR PPSE minor will engage the students in learning about the issues of forced displacement, the individuals who experience it, and the methods by which some of its various problems can be addressed.

The various elements of the minor are designed to educate the students on the what/why of forced displacement, (im)migration and refugeeism (the classes they take and the guest lectures they hear); centralize the agency, perspective and individuality of those who experience refugeeism, forced displacement and (im)migration (the classes focused on primary narratives, the ECAR guests they volunteer with, and the conversation partners); how we can collectively address the problems of forced displacement and refugeeism and the resettlement of (im)migrants (classes on organizing, civic engagement and community building); doing the work of principled problem-solving (hosting, resettling, advocacy and the programmatic ECAR projects).